Friday 25 August 2023

Making Fukushima Look Tame?

Japan's Fukushima release of contaminated coolant from its tsunami-wrecked site, looks like a picnic compared to developments in Finland. In remote Onkalo, the Finns have created tunnels, 450m below ground, in the 'living rock'. It's intended to store highly radioactive nuclear waste in these tunnels (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230824-the-descent-to-the-worlds-first-waste-nuclear-fuel-storage-site). The highly dangerous waste will be entombed in cast iron or copper cylinders, wrapped in bentonite clay. It should be safe for humans (if they still exist), to walk in the tunnels again after 100,000 years. Are records of the location and its contents likely to exist in even 1000 years from now? Could be a nasty surprise for the next sentient beings on the planet?

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